​This year's world famous (in East Auckland) Christmas Lights run was organised by Club Captain Stephen, and was set to be a fantastic night to see the lights- dark skies from all the clouds, glistening roads from the rain, and a lovely backdrop of frequent lightning. Undeterred, we pressed on anyway.

We gathered at Mcdonalds Greenlane, causing a fair amount of disruption in the carpark even before we all turned on our Christmas lights. All the cars were fantastically decorated, it seemed everyone had put in a lot of effort.

We made it to the first two stops without incident (Sayes Close in East Tamaki and Fern Place in Beachlands), where the Minis were welcomed by delighted children of all ages. Fern Close was particularly dramatic, with frequent flashes of lightning all around.

As we left Fern Close the heavens opened, and we headed directly to Darren's house in Uldale Place to assess the damage. We decided to abandon the rest of the run as Darren's house had turned into an almighty water feature, all the Minis were leaking, and the Muries' Moke was doing a fair impression of a bathtub on wheels.

A very sunny day (Sunday), at the December 2018 Caffeine and "CLASSICS" at Smales Farm.

More than 30 classic Minis turned up and put on a great display, more than 500 other classics turned up also. I organised the cars into four decades, '60s, '70s, '80s, & '90s. Warwick and Lesley raced in with the De Joux. Alister, Steve and my early Coopers were there.

The '90s Coopers were Phil's chrome show car, Zak, Jo and a Cooper 35 carrying on the green theme, with our club captain in red. A white Murayama '90s Rover Cooper (John Cooper tuning kit added in Japan) was brought along by Jason. This car was one I brought along to C&C just over a year ago. The Snells came along a little later. "UK1958," a '90s white Cooper, was also parked nearby.There were a myriad of '80s Minis there, nearly all modified, including Jim's 8 port Clubman and Darren's CuteBM.The rest of our group was mostly '70s Minis. Amongst these were 3 vans/estates, a couple of utes: a V8 one and a standard one for comparison. And the Muries' jeeped Moke.

Parked nearby was a surf's up Mini, ready for the beach on this lovely Sunday. We took up 3 complete parking rows this time. I will try for 4 rows in January, one for each decade. Help me guys , more cars please.

NOTE, IF THE ENTRY BARRIER IS DOWN PLEASE COME AROUND IT, WE ALWAYS HAVE A SAVED SPOT FOR CLASSIC MINIS (or come around to the back park down by the steps/hedge behind our main spot.)

By Kevin Taylor.​Warwick had organised a few members to take part in the annual Browns Bay Santa Parade. We met at Warwick & Lesley's to decorate the Minis, wondering if it was going to rain as much as the forecasters had promised. But the rain held off- at least until a couple of minutes before the parade set off at 5pm, and then the clouds opened up. We were nice & dry in the Minis but poor old Santa on his sledge got pretty wet- but the crowds cheered and waved as we drove slowly through the streets, being careful not to run over anybody's toes as they scrambled to pick up the lollies we were throwing out for them.

All too soon it was over and we removed the sodden tinsel from our Minis before heading for home.

​Another fun year ended with the always popular Christmas club night. As usual there was a vast range of excellent food, and while we didn't manage to finish everything it was close. Margaret organised the donation of food cans to the City Mission, and seemed to have plenty of response.

Alana won "Best Dressed Christmas Decoration" & Jo Wooding won first prize in the Monster Raffle but the prize wasn't a monster (we couldn't afford one).

Steff won "Best Dressed Mini" with her Santa Clubman, and "Best Dressed Driver" for her matching outfit.

The early Sunday morning start in Auckland was wet & miserable, when I arrived at Smales Farm at 7.30am there wasn't a Mini in sight but the coffee man was already set up and no queue at all, just me. I txt'd Chris Westlake at Matakohe to find out if the Maungaturoto Car & Bike Show had been cancelled and he said "not raining up here". I thought that if no one else turns up I'm grabbing a coffee and going home.

Then there was a tap on my window and Alan & Shelagh had arrived so we decided we might as well go for a drive, we can always head to Chris' for lunch and then come home. The good thing about a 2 Mini convoy is that you don't have to wait for others to catch up so we arrived at Maungaturoto in good time, and we were directed into the school's upper sealed playground where a smaller than usual show was coming together. It was warm & sunny when Chris arrived with his 2 Minis so there were now 4 Minis in attendance.

Did I mention that Alan & Shelagh were in their recently acquired Mini Moke replica? I thought that it looked like a scaled down Jeep as it has the distinctive Jeep looking grille, I joked that I didn't think many Mokes have been harmed in the making of this Moke? They are both well equipped for open car motoring as they were well rugged up for the journey but they did find that the torrential rain we encountered on the trip north had managed to find its way between the windscreen and bonnet and they were a little damp, but they soon dried out in the Northland sunshine. Alan will figure out how to make the Moke more waterproof before they venture out in the rain again.

There was an interesting variety of cars & bikes at the show and even a local tractor with a flame themed paint job and chainsaw strapped to the rear platform. The school was serving up great bacon butties and various other treats and there were stalls selling assorted other stuff. The kids were enjoying the bouncy castle and other entertainment. At 1.00pm they awarded prizes for Peoples Choice and other award categories and then Chris invited us back to his place at Matakohe for refreshments before we returned to Auckland.

Eight MCCoA Minis set off for Wellington to take part in the 24th Mini Nationals – unfortunately only 7 would make it - sadly Dave Bates Clubman spent the weekend at Waiouru and Dave continued the trip in Sarah’s convertible with Mark Turley in TUFMIN in convoy. There were a couple of separate convoys spread over several days all heading south. I trailered MINTED and was followed by my daughter Melanie in Viv’s BMW Clubman BBEAP with her co driver Mami who flew in from Tokyo especially to attend the event and to take part in the road trip. Mami has a BMW Cooper S in Japan and enjoyed driving in NZ apart from the roundabouts that she found a bit daunting.Richard Underwood & Haley set off earlier in the week and Keith & Jeanette Hargraves stopped off enroute to break up the journey. Alan & Shelagh Murie in their de Joux set off from Tirau and joined with the Tauranga and Waikato convoy that assembled in Taupo on Friday morning.The Nationals were based at the Trentham Event Centre at the Racecourse so that’s where we all headed for registration on Friday afternoon. Registration packs in hand we then headed for Phil Deane’s workshop in Upper Hutt to get MINTED scrutineered for the speed events. No problems there for us but Richard Underwood had to remove his front spoiler so that they could jack his Mini up to check the suspension. We were all surprised that he hadn’t managed to rip the spoiler off on the judder bars in the ROW drive to the workshop to save the bother of unbolting it. Unfortunately Richard failed the inspection as his tyres weren’t up to WOF standard – but some desperate ringing around Wellington’s tyre shops found a couple of new tyres which made him a happy boy. Several other competitors had minor problems but Phil and the MOWOG team did a great job working late into the night repairing a number of Minis so that they could all take part in the speed events.Then it was back to Trentham for the Presidents Meeting where we discussed where the next couple of Nationals will be held and some comments about the Show & Shine classes which is often a contentious issue. 2019 : Tauranga; 2020 : Canterbury; 2021 : Hawkes BaySaturday morning we left our Petone motel early to head down the motorway into central Wellington to Waitangi Park on the waterfront just alongside Te Papa. The park was already filling up with a great variety of Minis – all arranged in the variety of classes for judging. The Mini clubs had been asked to assist MOWOG in the judging so I volunteered & teamed up with Barry from Canterbury to score the boots & various load areas of utes, Estates, Vans & Mokes. 20 points for an immaculate boot (there were a couple) 12 points for an average well used original tidy boot & 5 points for a dirty, untidy boot and everything inbetween. Other judges looked at paintwork, interiors, engines & underbody – max possible score 100 points. I don’t think anyone scored 100 but there were some amazing Minis on show.During the morning the rocker cover racing got underway, that looked well supported and some interesting racers lined up on the 4 lane ramp.Around midday the Peoples Choice Award was given to the red Mini Van from MOWOG – this van won the show at Hamilton as well and it was a worthy winner.We now lined up to exit the park to take part in the Navigation trial. It took more than an hour to get all the Minis out of the park and into Wellingtons busy narrow roads. I had my son Nick as navigator in MINTED & Viv, Melanie & Mami were in BBEAP.As usual there were several courses so there were Minis going in all directions – one way roads up to Mt Victoria with a great view over the city and the upside down map of NZ which was one of the questions to be answered. The Thunderbird car club were also in Wellington for the weekend and were parked up at Mt Vic when we got there and we followed them down the hill, those cars are huge and didn’t have much room to manoeuvre on these roads, which made me happy to be in a Mini. Then we were off to Karori and great twisty roads out to the wild west coast at Makara – the 1st check point. Time for a break, stretch the legs, check with others what questions they had got (or missed) – there was a challenge here to choose between throwing quoits or gathering 1kg of rocks from the beach. Closest to 1kg wins, Nick chose the quoits and got a couple on.We collected the next set of instructions and set off again towards Johnsonville (apparently) and more great roads before heading to the finish at Petone – into a factory to select the 2nd challenge – either archery or remote control car motorkhana. I chose archery and hit the target 3 out of 4 shots, don’t know how that affected our overall score but it was fun. Back to Trentham now for the 5pm photo shoot, all the Minis lined up by colour as they arrived in front of the multistory complex which was perfect for taking photos of the assembled Minis. They looked like Dinky toys from the height we were viewing them from, and everyone got great photos.The bar was open so drinks were had, tales told, friendships renewed, then later pizza was served before the showing of a Bollywood movie. I believe that it was filmed in NZ and featured 3 Minis and the word was that the reviews were not so good so we headed back to the motel to clean out MINTED and change the wheels to the A032’s on front and skinnies on the back for the motorkhana next morning.Sunday morning was an early start for the speed events which were on closed industrial roads behind the Trentham Army Camp.There was an alternative scenic tour put on for those not taking part in the speed events, by all reports they had a great time out and about around Wellington.There were about 50 competitors entered for the Motorkhana & Autocross and there were 2 motorkhana courses set up in the morning to keep things ticking along. Two timed runs on each course, no practice. Both courses involved reversing into garages and the 2nd course also involved placing tennis balls into a bucket mid course, unless you stopped alongside the bucket it was hit or miss if the ball stayed in the bucket. We didn’t know if the bonus for balls in the bucket was greater than the time penalty for slowing down at the bucket – no one seemed to know (or care) most just threw the balls out the window as they went past as fast as they could. After lunch the Autocross course was set up which extended around a 90 degree corner and 180 degree turn back to the start and repeat (2 laps) to finish in the garage without hitting the end wall (Big Cone). One practice run then 2 timed runs, this was so much fun and Nick, Keith, Richard and I were watching each others times to see who would be quickest from MCCoA. I touched the big cone (apparently) so scored a DNF for my first timed run so had to be careful on my next run to get a time recorded. There were some very quick Minis but this year the course was too tight for the BMW MINIs. MOWOG withheld the times on the final run until the Prize Giving.Everyone had finished their runs by 5pm so it was back to our motels to tidy up for the Prize Giving back at the Trentham Events Centre.We were treated to a great meal, and then Jess from MOWOG got underway with the Awards – Show & Shine winners for 12 different classes plus Peoples Choice mentioned before.Some classes had only a couple of entries and others like Class 4 –MKIV Onwards had 37 entries – Keith Hargraves won 2nd place in this class with his 1994 Rover Mini Cooper. Richard was also entered in this class.MINTED was entered in Class 11 for Modified Minis with LVV Cert plates where there were 37 entries – Mark & Sarah were also in this class.No other prizes for MCCoA but I did win a Mini USB stick as a raffle prize.The speed events and navigational trial were all won by Carl Celeste (MOWOG) and he also won the Overall Nationals prize in his very quick 1975 Morris Mini. He also should have received the prize for the dirtiest Mini at the Show & Shine.At the end of the Prize Giving the Tauranga club were handed the key to next years event & Tim Sinclair (ex MCCOA now TMOC Treasurer) told us what they had planned for next year, the 25th Mini Nationals & the Mini’s 60th Birthday Party – I plan to be there for the beach party at the Mount.Congratulations to MOWOG for putting on a tremendous event – to Wellington for spoiling us with great weather (it didn’t rain) – and to all the Mini enthusiasts who took part in the 24th Mini Nationals.PS Dave’s Clubman made it back from Waiouru safely on the back of a transporter – sounds like it was a leaky inlet manifold gasket that was the problem.​

The regular Caffeine and Classics was held at the alternative venue of North West Shopping Centre due to the Auckland marathon clash at Smales Farm. We had the usual attendance of cars, though a few went to the alternative Caffeine and Gasoline at Hampton Downs.

About 12 Minis attended, along with a couple of the local police officers who attended for a looksie. The weather played along for the most part of the morning.

The inaugural Piha run took advantage of the daylight saving clock change and allowed everyone a Sunday sleep in for the 1pm start.

Meeting at the Northwest shopping Centre from 12.45 we expected maybe 5 or so cars, so it was a surprise to all to have 17 cars assemble on the roof top car park. Two new members Steff and Alasdair brought along a lovely 1275GT and a mk1 Cooper. Greetings done and the first assembly point mapped into GPS’s and iPhones, Ray brought a new twist by offering to take the lead with Jo as co-pilot. What a lead it was, lovely flowing twisty roads, ideal for Minis, saw us pull on the side of the Piha road with everyone still in group. The drive over to Piha was done in sunshine and the spiral down to the parking location at North Piha led to many photo opportunities, waves and smiles from those out enjoying their Sunday. Bringing up the rear in the only BMW Mini in the group gave me a chance to see people with Cell Phones videoing us, smiling and waving.

Picnic time at the overcast North Piha surf club gave us time to chat and take some photos before heading back to Piha for much needed coffee and food. Again, pictures and smiles galore as we pulled into the Piha Store. Ray again offered some spirited driving along the Karekare road back to the Arataki Visitors Centre. Only one member needing a Piha rescue as a large bump in the road collected an exhaust. Fortunately a stop by at some local friends provided a fix.

Our next stop was Wynyard Quarter, led by Richard and Trent as we set up for an impromptu photoshoot with Auckland as the backdrop. A quick drive around Wynyard and onto Queen street for more photos saw us disperse at about 6pm.

Hats off to all for making this such a fun day out. Everyone agreed that the afternoon run time really worked for this session and plans for the next beach run should be drawn up, so pack your togs, picnics and get those naughty Mini’s cleaned ready for the next one.

By Richard Underwood​​A great event was arranged by Gary Ashton on Sunday 16 September and we were spoilt by the beautiful weather – fine blue skies.

Round one (our previous attempt at the run) was disappointing due to a storm, which meant that the roads were closed to the Lighthouse.

This time, we met up at the Lions club in Waiuku at 10 am. Yours truly showed up first, and I was concerned about the turnout, thinking I was running late. However, we had a good number of members and cars.

We set off in a convoy around 10.30 am and drove through picturesque country roads that were made for Minis, because of their windiness, narrowness, and smoothness. NZ Speed from Sky TV followed us and filmed our event, which will be aired on a Wednesday night in the near future.

Our first stop was Karioitahi Beach where people were riding their dirt bikes, off-roading and horse riding on the black sand. We parked up for about 20 minutes and Sky TV started their interviews with Mini club members about their cars, and how they got involved with Minis. Sky loved our cars and what we do. Many club members appreciated being in the spotlight.

As we set off in convoy for the second time heading to Awhitu Lighthouse I could see from other club members’ smiles on their faces that they were enjoying the driving. On the way we had some slight hiccups which were two flat tyres and one chipped windscreen. What I loved about that is when it happened, everyone pulled over to support the unfortunate members. Meanwhile, as tyres were being changed, to my surprise, the video man interviewed me on Minis in general which I was quite willing to do. Once the cars were fixed, they were back on the road again.

At last, after driving for a long period, we ended up at our location, Awhitu Lighthouse. We all parked up together in a circle which created a lot of attention from the lighthouse visitors. Whilst we proceeded to visit the lighthouse and look at the views of Manukau Heads, Sky TV continued obtaining coverage of our cars. The day wrapped up with a welcome picnic.

Personally I want to thank Gary Ashton for his organisation and for creating an enjoyable event for all the Mini club members that attended. I hope similar navigational trials reoccur in the future.